30 January, 2023

On Thursday Thomas Puéchavy and me will be attending the (professional-only) wine fair »Salon Salon« in Rochefort-sur-Loire. Thomas will be presenting his new wines (three out of four we’ll be bottling week after next). I’m excited to attend the fair, it’ll be my third time accompanying Thomas. The line-up of the fair looks vey intriguing, plenty of vigneron:nes who are only just starting out. I found some notes in an old notebook that I made after the last fair at Julien Pineau’s which might come in handy. Here goes:

– make sure to label or at least mark the bottles in display

– bring additional bottles for sale with you

– bring a pen which writes on glass for bottles that are unlabelled and to mark your own tasting glass

– bring bottle opener

– bring a cloth or two to wipe the bottles clean

– bring a few ›Drop Stop‹ to pour wines better (remember to not serve too much wine)

– bring cooler and ice

– make sure to have the current price list with you

– print out additional info about the different cuvées to display/distribute and make sure the wines are sorted (on the info sheet) in the order you pour them, it makes life much easier

– people will ask for a business card

– bring your spittoon

– don’t forget the trolley if there’s a lot of wine to carry

– arrive well-rested and early to secure a good table

– take it easy in the evening of day one to arrive well-rested (!) and in good spirits for day two of the salon; remember, it’s a marathon